


My Wife is Very Sociable, With Excellent Taste

by Hawkbringer



Series: Never Show Weakness, Never Undress [2]
Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: Chest Binding, Ciel Phantomhive is Annoyed, Consensual Infidelity, F/M, M/M, Mentions of sexual activity, Sebastian Being An Asshole, Sebastian's sharp tongue, Teenage Ciel Phantomhive, Trans Male Character, ciel and Lizzie are 16 here, high society parties, tagged Underage just for safety
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-23
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:20:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23269849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hawkbringer/pseuds/Hawkbringer
Summary: Ciel, coming up on the age that he must marry Lizzie for propriety's sake, asks Sebastian's help in crafting a believable story to explain his inability to 'consummate' their marriage. He also gives her leave to take companions of her choosing to bed, if it would give her comfort. The first time he is forced to explain their arrangement in public, it goes much better than he was expecting.
Relationships: Elizabeth Midford & Ciel Phantomhive, Sebastian Michaelis & Ciel Phantomhive
Series: Never Show Weakness, Never Undress [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1673182
Kudos: 12





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first scene I wrote for this AU, and I have left it in its un-beta'd, 2012-vintage form. Thus, it is somewhat messy and the author-narrator's voice is not yet fully edited out. Do enjoy it anyway!

Are Ciel and Lizzie, in fact, married? It would make sense that they would be, by then. (They are betrothed at, what, fuck, 10? Earlier? Whatever. In victorian england, 16 was probably a good age to start poppin' out children, I don't know.) Married at 15, perhaps, and Lizzie, being rather young and innocent at heart, would have to attend many parties and talk with many other 'respectable' young women before she even found out about sex, that it could be good, recreational, and was expected in a marriage, and that the lack of it was ethically, within woman's circles, grounds for adultery. And it would have to be longer still till she dared to ask Ciel about it. And then the scene below takes place. 

***

"We will tell them you are a eunuch - the result of an unfortunate accident in childhood." And Ciel admits this is not too far off the mark. 

He marries, Lizzie or someone, and when she very shyly approaches him about laying together as man and wife, Ciel sends Sebastian out of the room and explains to Lizzie that, during the month that he was gone, before the manor was rebuilt (in that one night by Sebastian's overzealous use of his powers in the early days) he suffered imprisonment and torture and horrific things no child should endure. One of the results of that, (another being that he encountered and employed Sebastian, or rather, that Sebastian encountered, and rescued, him,) was that he was made a eunuch. Ciel would be very vague about what happened and so forth, but clear about the 'I have no penis to speak of' part. 

Lizzie, or whoever, would cry and he would dry her tears and give her leave to see a gentleman friend in the city, if she wished for the comforts of a marriage bed. If she wished for children, she would have to find a different, fertile man to give her children. 

"If it would give you comfort," he adds, thinking very quickly about his future and its probable length, "I will claim any children begotten by you and your 'gentleman friend' as my own, and provide for them as though they were ours truly." She nods miserably and says that yes, that would give her comfort.

****

Sometime after the above conversation, there is one particular social party, during which a slightly older, blond-haired male approaches Ciel and his butler, (who goes to all the balls with Ciel and Lizzie as Lizzie's tutor, as Lizzie is of higher rank,) and worriedly asks him in a low voice about his wife's insistence that she may go home with him. 

"Is this true? But the two of you /are/ married now, yes? I saw the ring on her finger! Is she really allowed to....?" 

And Ciel would blink impassively and tell the man, "It is true. My wife is a woman of a social nature, and I am a creature of more solitary pursuits. As a matter of courtesy, I allow her many companions, of both sexes."

He then pulls the young man closer by his elbow and whispers in his ear. "If, in the future, she requests companionship of a more... intimate nature, I advise you to contact me again. That is unlikely to occur at this juncture, however. The night is young and there are a great many men of your age here." Then he leans back and looks down his nose at the older boy, somehow, despite his shorter stature. 

"If there is one thing I may say with certitude about my lady, it is that she has discerning taste. Go and entertain the Lady Elizabeth, but do not /expect/ her to request...such, from you. However, if the need arises-" Sebastian shifts in the corner of Ciel's vision and the demon's master only just manages to contain a heaven-ward glance- "I would encourage you to request an audience with me at your earliest convenience." 

Then he smiles, thinly and somewhat condescendingly, but true joy has not graced his countenance since he was very young. "And relax. I won't bite. Much." With a wink and a nod, Ciel dismisses the fidgety noble.

Embarrassed yet reassured, the older boy hustles away, somehow swiftly despite his poor posture. Ciel turns and hisses at Sebastian. "Really? Did you absolutely have to--"

"I did nothing, young master. My stance was becoming uncomfortable, so I shifted my center of balance to correct it." 

Quirking his lips in dissatisfaction, Ciel is cut off from retorting by a young woman of much darker coloring than Lizzie asking Ciel for a dance. She is not as dark as the native Indians Ciel is, more or less, /friends/ with, but perhaps is a child or grandchild of one. Intrigued by her quiet manner and inostentatious dress, he consents, and Sebastian watches from the sidelines with his eyes only on /one/ woman.


	2. Chapter 2

Going home and shutting the bedroom door with his own two hands are the two most satisfying/gratifying actions Ciel has taken all evening, and he thunks his head against the door with a great heaving sigh of relief. 

Sebastian cocks his head and remarks, "That particular party seems to have exhausted you unduly, young master. It was not much more taxing in terms of length...?" He trails off, waiting for Ciel to finish his sentence with the answer Sebastian desires, as Ciel often does. 

"No, in terms of company," Ciel replies in a disinterested drawl, not even aware of making a concession to the demon and his subtle cajoling. The young Phantomhive swings himself around then and stares woefully up at Sebastian as he begins to undo the larger laces and ties on his outfit before the butler takes over the finer ones. 

Sebastian supposes that Ciel means for the expression to look long-suffering, but it only manages to reach 'tormented and imploring' and the combination of that look, (so, so similar to the shattered and brave face he put on that day) and the fwips and rustles of clothing being removed causes Sebastian's heart to squeeze painfully for a moment - just a moment - before Ciel continues in exasperated tone, "What am I to /say/ to that man...boy? Gentleman? Whatever-he-is, when he comes calling again? Him or some other. One of them /will/ come, perhaps more than one, and with questions more difficult to obfuscate."

"I have never known you to give up easily, young master," Sebastian deflects reassuringly. This demon always tells the truth. This does not mean that he always tells the /whole/ truth. 

Ciel sighs, more of a huff, really, clearly unsatisfied. "I will /not/ give up, not ever.... but it will make my life far less complicated if I can give the /right/ answer the /first/ time." 

Dissatisfied with the petulant sound of his reply, Ciel adds, "I have no time to waste on catering to the expectations of London's social circles. The less time spent on such trivial matters, the better." Ciel turns around then, and holds his arms out from his body to let Sebastian finish undressing him.

"Are you perhaps worried, young master? That someone will think less of you with whatever answer you give?" As he is facing his master's back to remove his shirts, Sebastian doesn't see the blush that pours into Ciel's cheeks and then sits there uncomfortably like a grown man wearing a skirt.

Ciel remains silent as Sebastian removes his shirts and the snug wrap around his chest that keeps his puffy, pointed nipples from distorting the smooth line of his shirts. "I have been placed in a rather untenable position, Sebastian. You know this." 

The butler did. 

"There is little I can do but grant my fiancee her freedom. It simply comes down to choosing the most advantageous cover story when the time comes to confess." 

Sebastian's head snaps up and he looks his master in the eyes. "You intend to confess--?"

"No, of course not," Ciel replies dismissively, wrapping his favorite loose sleepwear about his recalcitrant body. "It will have to be something like what we told the doctor - that I am a eunuch or disfigured or incurably flaccid--" Ciel is facing away from /him/ now, so Sebastian's tiny smirk goes unnoticed, too- "but it will have to be the /only/ story London's high society hears about me. Inconsistent tales will, of course, generate yet more rumors and unwanted questions and could tarnish my legitimate business reputation. Of course, the Queen's Guard Dog will not suffer for aspersions cast against his manhood-" Ciel shoots an arch glance over his shoulder, trying and failing to catch Sebastian in the act of covertly smirking- "I have /you/ for that." 

Sebastian bows and places a hand over his black heart and intones, "Yes, My Lord." Then he straightens and moves to putter around the room, putting the clothes in order and straightening various items. "I personally believe that claiming disfigurement as a result of sustaining physical damage in an altercation of many moons ago will be the most efficacious." 

He supposes it is a mark of how exhausted his poor master is that the only muffled words that come out of Ciel's mouth from where it's squashed against the pillow are, "How so?"

Sebastian smiles like honey-flavored flytraps and he elaborates, "It has the advantage of being mostly true, as all the best lies are-" to which Ciel humpfs, but does not deny it- "and produces the image of no fault on your part, no illness or constitutional failure-" to which Ciel curls into a slightly tighter ball beneath the blankets- "and implies resiliency in the face of physical adversity, a greatly desirable trait in males-" Ciel flinches again- "and will command respect for surviving an encounter with a dangerous foe."

"Weaknesses?" Ciel murffles from the bed. 

Sebastian replies, "Aside from the obvious?" which gets him a glare shot over a hunched shoulder. "It may inspire pity, either for you or your fiancee, but the respect-for-survival factor will balance that out. Overall, the strengths outweigh the weaknesses."

"Pity...../and/ respect?" 

"A common reaction, among humans, to tales of great adversity overcome successfully, but not effortlessly."

"Adversity, hmm?" Ciel mumbles again before falling silent, and, ostensibly, falling asleep. 

Sebastian smiles at his precious little - but growing - master and blows out the candles as he closes the bedroom door. Demons do not need candles to see in the dark, after all.


End file.
